Remarks at Committee of 100 Annual Conference, New York, New York

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERYThursday, May 12, 2011CONTACT OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS202-482-4883

Commerce Secretary Gary LockeRemarks at Committee of 100 Annual Conference, New York, New York

Thank you, Nelson [Dong],
for that introduction.

It's so great to be
back here to see old friends and to speak with a group that has done so much to
bring China and the United States
closer together, and to expand opportunities for Chinese Americans.

We meet here tonight
in the middle of Asian-American and Pacific Islander heritage month, which
gives us a special chance to reflect on our community and its legacy.

As some of you may
know, May was chosen as our Heritage Month because it coincides with two
important milestones in Asian/Pacific American history:

The
arrival to the U.S.
of the first Japanese immigrants in 1843; and

The
completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 thanks to the Chinese
laborers who helped build one of the greatest U.S. technological feats of the 19th
century.

Today, and
throughout this entire month, we commemorate the courage and contributions of
the early Asian Pacific Americans, who:

Made the voyage to America;

Set up lives here against unbelievable
odds; and

Planted the seed for generations to
come.

My grandfather was
one of those people.

In the late 1890s,
he left his home and friends in China
and went to work as a houseboy in Olympia,
Washington, in exchange for
English lessons.

A hundred years
later – just a mile from where my grandfather used to live – I was elected the
Governor of the State of Washington, the first
Asian-Pacific American Governor on the U.S. mainland.

It’s the type of
amazing story that really could only be told in America.

But in a lot of
ways, my story is likely very similar to all of you and to many other Chinese
Americans.

When I was growing
up, my parents worked seven days a week, 365 days a year In a mom-and-pop
grocery; and denied themselves even the smallest luxuries so that their
children and their family could have a better life.

It certainly wasn’t
easy. They often faced rampant
discrimination, and had to scrape and claw for everything they got.

But they persevered,
secure in the belief that one day they could give their children the type of
opportunities they never had.

At times like these,
we're reminded how much those who came before us gave up. And we owe it to them to never forget where
we came from.

I’d like to spend a
few minutes speaking with you tonight about what it means to me to be a
Chinese-American in 2011, and my hopes for the future of our community.

I guess the place to
start is that it sure feels a whole lot different being a Chinese-American
today than it did when I was growing up.

In the Ozzie and
Harriet era in which I was born, I got the message that I had to choose between
being Chinese and being American.

During the 50s, when
I was in grade school, I vividly remember a teacher who believed it was her
duty to literally beat the native culture out of her immigrant students.

Most mornings, she’d
ask us what we’d had for breakfast.

And if we had eaten
something she thought was un-American -- like the rice porridge with fish and
vegetables that my mother gave me -- she would slap our hands with a
ruler. The Italian immigrant kids who
drank coffee got the same treatment.

To her, being an
American meant rejecting the culture of our parents and grandparents, and in
this case that meant choosing bacon and eggs over rice porridge.

And the real tragedy
was that many of us Asian-Americans believed her, and took her advice to heart.

I was convinced that
to be an American -- to fit in -- meant your mother was supposed to look like
Donna Reed and bake apple pies.

So to conform. I
felt I had to reject the culture of my parents, a culture of which they were
justifiably proud.

They didn't want me
hanging out with American kids after school or playing sports or doing
extracurricular activities. They wanted me home studying and when I wasn't doing
that, they wanted me working in our grocery store.

This was the
constant tension of my youth.

I am deeply grateful
to my parents for forgiving all the ways in which I tried to reject them, and
my own heritage and cultural roots. I know I caused them a lot of pain and
grief when I was growing up.

It took the civil
rights movement to teach me that I could be both Chinese and American:

I could be
Chinese-American.

I could be myself. I
could be as loyal and patriotic as anyone else, and still eat with chopsticks.

And of course, as I
changed on the inside, America
changed all around me. The strength of
our nation has always come from our diversity: of people, culture and
religions.

But it’s only
recently that we've begun to fully embrace that idea; that there really doesn't
have to be a tension between our ethnic heritage and our national
heritage.

We can celebrate
Asian American or Black History Month.
The Irish can proudly wave their flags on St. Patrick's Day and the
Italians can do the same on Columbus Day.

But what holds us
together is our love for America and our appreciation of the mainstream
American values that have a lot more in common with what my parents taught me,
than I would have ever imagined when I was growing up:

The values that reject extremism and
division, and embrace fairness and moral progress;

The values of building bridges, and
working together across the lines of race and nationality to keep alive
the constitutional promise of equality; and

The values of hard work, hope and
opportunity

These are the values
that have been embraced by the Committee of 100. They are the values that have allowed all of
you to achieve the type of success that would justifiably make our forebears so
proud.

In so doing, you’ve
become part of a multi-millennial history of Chinese accomplishment.

We can thank the ancient Chinese for countless inventions
and innovations, including:

The abacus and the seismograph;

Silk and cast iron;

The compass and the clock;

Paper and the printing press; and

Acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Today, we can see
the indelible impact of Chinese-Americans in:

The beautiful artistry of I.M. Pei and
Maya Lin;

The lifesaving AIDS treatments of David
Ho;

The life-changing technology innovations
of Jerry Yang;

The skating of Michele Kwan; and

The music of Yo Yo Ma.

Later today, I'll be
visiting the Museum of Chinese in America down on Centre Street to see firsthand the
amazing contributions are people have made to this country.

The people in this
room and throughout the Chinese-American community impact virtually every
corner of American life, from business and the arts to media and academia.

And overall, we have
an outsized impact that often greatly exceeds our numbers.

But that has not yet
extended to politics.

Of course there are
exceptions. And I'd note that President
Obama in particular – with three Asian-American cabinet secretaries and many others
serving in senior posts throughout the administration – has made great efforts
to include our community in government

But in statehouses
across America,
in Congress and in other areas of government leadership, Asian-Americans and
Chinese Americans remain seriously underrepresented.

Consider the fact
that although U.S.
residents of Asian descent make up 5.6 percent of the population, they only
account for 2 percent in the U.S. Congress.

It's a similar story
with Chinese Americans. There are 3.8
million Chinese Americans, but only three of them in Congress.

Here in New York, over 530,000
Chinese Americans have one representative in a 212-member state legislature.

Fifty or 60 years ago,
we could chalk this up to discrimination, but I don't think that's the case
today.

I believe that too
many Chinese Americans continue to harbor the misguided belief that politics and
government service is somehow less noble or useful than becoming a doctor or a
lawyer or an engineer. Early in my life,
that was certainly the opinion of my parents.

But the fact is that
if the Asian and Chinese-American communities want action on the issues we care
about, we’ve got to be at the table where decisions are being made.

This is a message
everyone in this room can help spread.

We’ve got to help
people understand the need for more talented and engaged Chinese American
public servants.

I believe this is
the next great frontier for Chinese-American advancement.

And I hope that the
Committee of 100 can help push this vital cause forward, because helping
Chinese-Americans break through new barriers is what this organization is all
about.

It wasn't long ago
that no one could have imagined a Chinese-American becoming a senior leader in
the U.S.
military.

But Major General
John Fugh -- who passed away last year -- erased that misperception once and
for all. He was the first
Chinese-American to attain general officer status in the U.S. Army – and his life was a testament to the fact that we could love this
country as much as anyone else.

After his
retirement, John Fugh brought that commitment to public service and to helping
our community advance to the Committee of 100.

He was a
trailblazer, and now we need a new generation of Chinese Americans to follow in
his footsteps, to make sure that we are represented and heard in the halls of
power.

It's our job to help
empower this new generation.

Thank you again so
much for having me. And thank you all
for the great work you do on behalf of Chinese- Americans all across this
country.